Crusoe's efforts at survival are noteworthy. He persists at making pottery from clay he found on the island until he gets it right. He makes a small house, a dairy, and a grain farm from practically nothing. "The Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau applauded Crusoe's do-it-yourself independence, and in his book on education, Emile, he recommends that children be taught to imitate Crusoe's hands-on approach to life." (http://www.enotes.com/robinson-crusoe/critical-overview)

Crusoe appeared to be religious and made his prayers and attempted to observe a Sabbath day. His biggest concern about leaving home was in how God might smite him for disobeying his father rather than any emotional loss of his parents. He resolved at one point in the novel to live a virtuous life after surviving the shipwreck.

Crusoe appears to be very non-emotional in this book. Everything is a problem to be worked out rather than a life-and-death struggle for survival. He panics only once upon arrival at the island and then sets about cannibalizing the shipwreck for useful materials with which to make a shelter and survive. (http://www.enotes.com/robinson-crusoe/part-3-island-despair) Crusoe is presented as a pragmatist.

He shows humanity when he saves Friday from the cannibals, but his thoughts were not to save another human being from death and murder but to get himself a servant. Friday is saved and proves to be a loyal willing servant. So, it does work out. (http://www.enotes.com/robinson-crusoe/part-4-end-solitude) Eventually Crusoe and Friday save Friday's father from cannibals.

Everything that Crusoe attempts works out nearly perfectly. He is very matter-of-fact about everything rather than fearful of death and lonliness. Eventually, he is rescued off of the island, but he has come to think of the island as his home.